AZ Republic: ICE finds Wil Cardon business hired many illegals

Wil Cardon, candidate for the Republican nomination to contend for the senate seat being vacated by the retiring John Kyl, has attempted to portray himself as harder on illegal immigration than Jeff Flake. He cannot assail Flake’s record on spending and fiscal restraint, since Jeff Flake is one of the highest-rated members of the House—ever—on those issues. He has been given the highly rare designation of “taxpayer superhero” by Citizens Against Government Waste. Cardon has absolutely no hope there, so he has focused some attention on the immigration issue in order to set himself apart from Flake.

Unfortunately for Cardon, ICE, via an article in the Republic, may have just created that daylight between the two candidates, but not in the direction he would have liked:

In the case of immigration, some of Cardon’s business interests have drawn scrutiny from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A Subway franchise company co-owned by Cardon was fined three years ago for federal violations related to failure to document the legal status of more than 150 employees suspected of being illegal immigrants, federal and state records show.

Investigators for ICE reported that nearly half of the 315 employees at some Subway restaurants owned by RCC Partners were believed to be “undocumented alien workers.” Investigators also reported that their employer failed to comply with federal employment-eligibility paperwork. Two of the ownership groups for RCC Partners are at least partly owned by Cardon, according to state corporate records.

[ . . . ]

Cardon lists RCC Partners as a Boa Sorte asset on his Senate financial-disclosure report. Some people involved with RCC Partners have served as partners and agents for other business entities affiliated with the Cardon family, state corporation records show.

In fall 2008, ICE investigators reviewed employment-eligibility records, known as I-9 forms, for 315 employees at RCC Partners’ Subways, including 51 who were still working. Thirty of the 51 workers who were still with the restaurants at the time were considered “undocumented alien workers” based on record searches, the investigators found. They also determined that 121 former employees had provided questionable documentation and were “not authorized for employment.”

The company could not produce records for 15 employees, ICE reported.

The findings resulted in seven substantive and 15 technical violations of federal rules for completing the I-9 forms. The company was not fined for employing illegal workers.

In July 2009, ICE discussed the violations with an accountant for RCC Partners. By then, all but two of the 30 employees had been terminated, the report notes. Those two quit within a day. One suspected undocumented employee was arrested about that time. The reason for the arrest is unclear. In July 2010, the company paid the $2,662 fine for all the violations, records show.

Christopher Cook is a writer, editor, and political commentator. He is the president of Castleraine, Inc., a consulting firm providing a diverse array of services to corporate, public policy, and not-for-profit clients.

Ardently devoted to the cause of human freedom, he has worked at the confluence of politics, activism, and public policy for more than a decade. He co-wrote a ten-part series of video shorts on economics, and has film credits as a researcher on 11 political documentaries, including Citizens United's notorious film on Hillary Clinton that became the subject of a landmark Supreme Court decision. He is the founder of several activist endeavors, including AnyStreet.org (now a part of Western Free Press) and Liberatchik.com. He is currently the managing editor of and principal contributor to WesternFreePress.com.